


Black Cats at Our Doorsteps

by AngelicSociopath



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood, Blood and Gore, Detective!Sebastian, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Murder, Serial Killers, Vampire!Stefano, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-07-23 08:36:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16155476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelicSociopath/pseuds/AngelicSociopath
Summary: Sebastian Castellanos. Detective. Widow. He's been living on his own all these years when suddenly a string of murders is set on his desk, all dead, bloodless victims thrown carelessly on the streets.Enter Stefano Valentini, the mysterious new neighbor just around the bend who can't quite seem to keep himself away from the detective, carrying secrets that Sebastian himself is unmistakably drawn to.The two of them delve much deeper into the suspicious case than Sebastian could have ever imagined, and as much as he despises his new partner, Stefano knows something. Something dark, something important.And it all starts with a black cat at his doorstep.





	1. Black Cats and Guardians

Perhaps, in the birth of autumn when the air grew cold through the cracks of this old house, he should have expected this. The temperature drops dead around this time of year, not quite winter, but not quite warm enough to be considered fall. Leaves fall onto his driveway, blocking his path around the edges, some drifting onto his porch steps in the light breeze. He had expected this.

 

What Sebastian Castellanos had not expected, however, were the almost crimson eyes staring up at him through his front door window. Black eyelids blink slowly, awaiting his arrival outside. He waits a moment, just watching the small ink colored cat as they watch him, too, giving them time to decide otherwise and to leave, returning home to wherever they originated. The cat doesn’t move.

 

Sebastian releases a sigh and then opens the door. The little black cat gives a small, disapproving mew as if scolding him for taking so long. Well, he’s here now. No need to be scornful. 

 

The cat stands, still watching him, then goes to leap onto the bench swing across the porch. They wait, staring at Sebastian, mewing impatiently now. Sebastian can’t help but chuckle. “What?” he says, “Want me to sit on the chair?” They make another noise, answering Sebastian’s question. “Well alright then.” He takes a few steps over to the swing, sitting to the left of the cat, and still, it glares up at him with those intimidating red eyes. Not quite threatening, just… unsettling, in a way. That doesn’t stop Sebastian from scratching his fingers behind the cat’s little ears, however. The cat closes their eyes and eventually starts to purr, as if reluctant to show affection but soon giving way to it. “Yeah, that’s it.” Sebastian murmurs. He doesn’t think anyone other than the cat can hear him, but still, better to be cautious than not. People may think he’s crazy- a forty-one-year-old man, living alone, talking to a stray cat on his porch.

 

Checking the cat again, maybe they aren’t stray. Around their neck is a satin red bow, but looking at it for any further clues, he finds there is no name or additional information. This could make it a bit more difficult to find their owner when the time comes. Hopefully, the cat knows their way home and can make it by themself. If not, then Sebastian either has quite the journey ahead of him or a new friend for the time being.

 

It is still midday, so Sebastian still has time before he has to set off looking for the cat’s real home. He doesn’t want to get too attached, after all. Perhaps starting the task early is the best option here.

 

Almost as if reading his mind, the cat meows loudly and hops off the bench. They look back, waiting for Sebastian to follow, he can tell. Sebastian stands, ignoring the protests of his knees as he does so. “Yeah yeah, I’m up,” Sebastian tells them. “You want me to follow you?” The cat meows again, then bounces down the porch steps to the leaf-covered driveway. Sebastian follows as the cat seems to know exactly what they are doing and where they are going. He has more trust in this little thing than he has in most people.

 

The neighborhood is the usual quiet, the silence from the lack of life surrounding the area almost eerie this time of year as the cold creeps in. Empty. Lifeless. The little creature here guiding Sebastian is a pleasant surprise in this street, at the least. Only a few people live just down the road that Sebastian knows of, but the large country houses nearest to him are long since abandoned, the wooden boards warped and paint worn away, nature reclaiming its territory and pushing new life through the corpses of trees in the form of deteriorating planks. This used to be such a lively, thriving, happy community at the time of his parents and grandparents. But once they passed and as life went on, the world around Sebastian in his time grew desolate and mute. He has never known anything else. After everything that has happened over these past few years… silence and solitude became almost like company for him.

 

The cat continues their journey even past the bend down the street, going around the corner where the grass grows tall and dry beside the worn street paving. Sebastian feels as though he should be familiar with this area, as he lives just near it a little ways back, but he comes to realize that he actually doesn’t know the pathway here. It is just as empty as his own little street, with the same sights- the broken down road, the overgrown woods, the architecture that is one breeze of wind away from perishing and collapsing. It is almost exactly the same, in fact. The only difference is that here, in the back of his mind, Sebastian gets the creeping suspicion that he doesn’t belong here. He just tries to push that back for now until he is sure the little animal guiding him makes their way home.

 

They don’t stop until they reach the first home past the bridge, where the grass consumes the withering river below, having been dried up for years. The house itself looks just like the rest- ancient, warped from years of weather and abandonment. Had it not been for what looks like freshly grown and tamed roses strung around the wooden pillars on the porch, Sebastian would have assumed that it too was as empty as the others. Everything is too neat, too precise, to have born purely from the effects of unrestrained nature. The grass is cut short and clean, a lively yet dying shade of green all the same, the driveway nothing more than large stepping stones leading to the steps. The cat calls out to Sebastian, already climbing the stairs ahead onto the porch. Everything within Sebastian tells him to stop the journey here, that it has been interesting enough, and finally the cat is home and he is of no use to them anymore. However, the cat is persistent and meows again for him to follow. Cautiously, Sebastian strides across the stepping stones until he is on the steps, the wood underneath his weight creaking and groaning as he makes it to the porch. The cat is impatiently scratching at the front door, looking back at Sebastian occasionally until he gets the point. 

 

Taking a deep breath, his chest tightening in anxiety and anticipation, Sebastian knocks on the door.

 

No one comes to answer.

 

Sebastian tries again, knocking and even ringing the ancient doorbell on the wall before his nerves get the best of him. He is walking away hurriedly, turning towards the steps, when he hears a sliding metal lock clang against the door and the creaking hinges that follow. 

 

He turns to face the door slowly, not really expecting who to find behind it. Sebastian definitely doesn’t expect the half hidden face of a well dressed, dark-haired man, a single piercing blue eye staring straight through him. He says nothing as Sebastian struggles for words, tripping over his own tongue, unsure of what to say or how to explain himself. “I- sorry, uh-” The man lifts a visible eyebrow. His face is void of any expression, but Sebastian senses a sense of judgment. “I think your cat strayed off, they just showed up at my door, I didn’t know-”

 

It’s as if the man is only just now noticing the little shadow sitting at his feet, and he glances down, wordlessly taking the cat into his arms and holding them against his chest. “Thank you,” he says to Sebastian, “I would have gone out for her myself, but…” the man stops mid-sentence, blinking once, then shaking his head without continuing. “Thank you.” He repeats instead.

 

“Yeah, no problem.” Sebastian nods. There’s nothing left to say. Sebastian returned the little cat to her home, and he can’t just stay here in silence on a stranger’s porch, so he turns down the steps and goes to return home. 

 

“I never did catch your name.” The man says as Sebastian reaches the last step. 

 

“It’s Sebastian.” He tells the man, turning back to glance at him one last time. “Sebastian Castellanos.”

 

“Stefano Valentini.” The other says, a slight curl to the corner of his lips as the accented name slides off of his tongue. Stefano Valentini. He’s definitely not from around here.

 

 

As Sebastian steps down the path away from Stefano’s house, he can’t quite help but notice the feeling of eyes on him the entire time his back is turned from the residence. Even the roses seem to be watching his every movement, one foot after the other, their heads turned in his direction until Sebastian is off of the walkway and he hears a door creak shut and lock behind him. But the creeping feeling never leaves him until his own door is closed behind him once he returns home.

 

 

 

His house is as empty as he had left it. It is the same every day after work, every time he awakes in the still mornings, so it shouldn’t be any different now. Sebastian stands in the doorway, still listening for something, anything, to tell him otherwise. A soft voice in the other room. Footsteps against the dull wooden boards. A television having been left on and occupied. Nothing. It is as it has always been, as it will always be. Sebastian sighs in the grim reality of it all.

 

Maybe he should have held onto that cat just a little while longer.

 

 

 

Stefano stays silent as he locks the door behind him, waiting until he is sure Sebastian is gone. He doesn’t have a true reason as to why, but he keeps his eye on him until the other man is completely out of his line of vision to draw the curtains. His cat purrs against his chest, the bright ruby eyes gazing up at him expectantly, Stefano looks down, his hair dropping over his face, and strokes a gloved thumb over the cat’s back where he cradles her against his chest. Then he kneels down slowly, gently allowing her to stand on her own and stretch her legs. She pads off to somewhere within the old house, her black fur illuminated red as he watches her enter the darkroom down the hall. He trusts her enough not to disrupt his processes inside the room, knowing that she most likely is just going to take a nap on the counter. She seems to understand just how precious the contents of that room truly are to him.

 

With a wistful gaze out the window, the dark heavy curtains within the grip of his hands, he draws the room into blissful darkness.

 

Down the dusty hallway plays an ancient record, piano tunes singing softly from its speaker. Static hums along in harmony, skipping a beat every so often as to play along with an unexpected twist. Stefano sings along with no intention, humming the sounds of Clair De Lune as he strides down the hallway. Peaceful, companionable silence makes his acquaintance, the sounds of silence from any residents allowing him a song just for a time here and there. His footsteps make no sound, and not even a purr comes from the inhabited darkroom behind him. The house may be silent, but it is never quite empty, for in the kitchen a cackle calls his attention. Up above the counter she waits, his cheerful Guardian mimicking a hysterical greeting at his presence. Stefano gives a loving smile, stretching a hand for her to land upon. His Guardian spreads her large wings and cackles once more as she lands upon his outstretched finger, her beak wide open and singing her welcomes. Stefano's other hand goes to her neck, stroking the raven’s feathers underneath his touch. “No, mia caro. Non è nessuno.” She doesn’t seem all too convinced at his words, but makes no remark upon it. Stefano gives her another smile, spinning on his heels towards the back door with the raven still perched on his finger. “I know you do not believe me,” Stefano tells her softly, his voice deeper in pitch, “so go on and see for yourself.” Guardian calls again, an excited shout of glee at his suggestion. She loves to hunt, to stalk, and Stefano is sure his visitor won’t mind. That is, if he even notices at all. 

 

Stefano unlocks the back door, the chain rattling as it falls loose, and the moment the door is open Guardian is spreading her wings and wordlessly flying off into the sky to search out her prey. Stefano watches her soar off, a smirk forming on his lips once she is out of sight. She deserves her fun for now.

 

 

 

It’s watching him the moment he steps onto the porch. Sebastian holds his warm cup of coffee in his hands, clutched against his chest, and he goes to sit on the porch swing and relax when he notices it. The bird, sitting on the telephone pole at the end of the driveway, staring at him with dark black eyes. This is his second visitor of the day, but this one is unwelcome to Sebastian. Cute, tiny cats at his doorstep? Those are always welcome, all hours of the day. But large, menacing birds staring downright murderously at him near the street? That is something else entirely to Sebastian.

 

Five minutes pass. Ten. Thirty. Sebastian has already finished his coffee, but the black bird still hasn’t moved. Sebastian has had enough. He won’t allow fucking death omens any longer.“What?!” Sebastian finally shouts at it, standing up from his seat and stepping closer to the edge of the porch. “You want me to follow you too?” The bird suddenly shifts from its silence, screeching a hysterical cry that chills Sebastian to the bone, a sound he’s never heard before, especially from a bird. It’s like a pained laugh, but from several voices at once, and it is enough for Sebastian to almost trip backwards when the impact of the sound hits him. Then it spreads its wings and takes off to the woods past the street. “Fucking bird…” Sebastian swears under his breath, taking a step back towards the front door. 

 

There really was no point to coming outside anyway. The inside air is just as cool as it is outside with the drafts and all coming through the walls. Needless to say, Sebastian isn’t feeling very welcome outside his front door.

 

But once he finds himself alone in the old house once again, the cold air finds itself seeping into himself as well. Sebastian can’t find himself to move, just staring at the dark living room in the silence. It’s become too quiet in his home, if he can even call it that anymore. He blinks away the dust that settles in his eye, falling through the cracks of light that come through the blinds. 

 

He needs something. He needs someone. Sebastian had never truly realized it until now, just how desolate these floors have become, only his own footsteps creaking along the wood proving this house to be still alive. He cleans his coffee mug and leaves it next to the sink to dry, opening a window here and there to let the light into the dying rooms. It only helps his mood a little.

 

 

 

His visitor doesn’t come by again that day, to his reluctant disappointment. Stefano tries not to expect any different. Besides, he is far too caught up in his own needs at the moment. He’s borderline starving himself and fatigue with exhaustion from the several hours passed when finally he sets down his red stained paintbrush on the palate. Stefano steps back wearily but thrilled to see his final work, crossing his arms with a finger under his chin, observing and critiquing his own painting. Guardian sits in the corner of the room behind him, having overlooked his process all this time. She too seems satisfied with his creation, but says nothing, as expected. As for himself, this is still a work in progress. An artist’s work is never truly finished, especially in his case. 

 

Still, the figure on the canvas looks upon him beautifully, his eyes wide and nervous yet so bold all at once. Pride swells in Stefano’s chest and tears almost come to his eyes as a feeling of absolute love and devotion pour out for the painting, willing to give his all to bring it to life. He wants more, needs more, for this art is begging him to give it a soul for him to torment so extravagantly. There’s a burning behind the man’s eyes, a determination screaming for Stefano to bring it forth. Oh, how he will. The paint is blood spilled onto his fingers, the canvas- flesh that he needs to shape and mold and carve under his hands and his hands only. It needs more. If only Stefano could see his muse once again.

 

Between his feet, the black cat makes a sound, grabbing his attention for a moment. Stefano almost trips over her despite standing perfectly still, however he is now noticing his stance is swaying just a bit. Perhaps it is about time to take a break. He can visit his muse on the canvas later. For now, he gathers the cat in his arms and takes her out of his studio, traveling down the dark hallway to the kitchen to feed her. The sun has gone down by now, and it is far past dinner for himself. It’s no wonder he is feeling so off put at the moment.

 

The blinds rip open under his grasp, revealing moonlight cast across his pale skin. Stefano breathes it in, closing his eyes and slipping from his own existence for a moment. The cat wraps around his ankles, and Guardian comes from the studio to the kitchen, awaiting to be fed as well. Stefano smirks at her sleek form standing in the shadows across the room, the sounds of scratching within the walls that follow nothing more than music to his ears.


	2. Case of Black Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You wanted a good case. We got one."

The trip to his desk is never-ending, all eyes and glares and concerns. Sebastian keeps his gaze forward through the crowd of coworkers and strangers, wanting nothing more than to get into his room and possibly even go deaf before he has to hear another word of concern to his direction.

 

_"Where were you, Sebastian?"_

_"What happened last night?"_

_"How are you feeling?"_

_"Is everything okay?"_

 

  
As if they don't already know. It's just humiliating at this point. None of them in the office actually care, he can feel it behind their fake sympathetic glances, empty eyes portrayed with worry. With a roll of his eyes pointed away from anyone who can see, he pushes the door to his office open and slips behind it. Sebastian sighs and stares up at the ceiling, thankful that his office is at least somewhat soundproof. And with a quick tug at the curtains hung over the windows seeing out to the rest of the precinct, it can be sight-proof as well.

 

 

The pounding in his tired head only seemed to get worse while he crossed the ocean of noise across the precinct, and when he slumps over on the worn leather sofa in the corner of his room, he closes his eyes tight and hides his face behind his large hands. A breath escapes his lips, and his hands fall to his sides as he stares and watches the ceiling fan turn and turn above him. Maybe it will fall on him today. Maybe that one rickety fan blade will finally give in and slip off its screws and bash him in the head across the room while he isn't looking, or even slice him right across the neck. That ought to be enough to get the job done. Maybe today will be the day.

 

  
He knows he shouldn't think like this, but day after day of waking up hungover, hearing the same mantra from the precinct from careless coworkers, and coming here to do the same damn thing becomes tiresome to even the most mundane of people. Joseph wouldn't appreciate hearing any of this from Sebastian, either. He's pretty much Sebastian's only friend now- he was there since the beginning, since he first met Myra, since...since she left, along with everything else. Joseph is really all Sebastian has left.

 

  
But Sebastian is tired, that's all there is to it. He's so, so tired.

 

  
A quick knock comes to his office door and interrupts his daily dark thoughts, to both his relief and annoyance all at once. Sebastian lifts himself from his seat and goes to sit instead at his desk before answering, at least trying to put on a professional performance. "Come in." He says gruffly.

 

  
The door swings open and behind it stands Joseph peering around the door frame. Speak of the devil. "Sebastian? Are you busy?" He asks.

 

  
"When am I ever busy?" Sebastian says with a shake of his head in his hands. Joseph notices his tense posture immediately and sighs, shaking his own head in disappointment.

 

  
"Seb, we've talked about this." He says with a sigh audible in his voice.

 

  
"Please, I'm not in the mood. Just tell me what you need."

 

  
"You're never in the mood," Joseph scolds, "and I'm not going to wait until you're comfortable to discuss this. You said you would stop drinking."

 

  
"And you said you'd get off my back, yet here we are." Joseph scowls, pressing his glasses back as he pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration.

 

  
"We're never going to get anywhere if you continue acting like a child, Seb."

 

  
"We?" Sebastian growls. "This isn't a _we_ situation. This has nothing to do with _you_."

 

"Then start acting like it." Joseph warns him. Sebastian takes in a deep breath, trying to refrain himself from shouting. Joseph is his friend,he doesn't deserve any of Sebastian's shit. He lets out the air in his lungs slowly and visibly calms himself down before continuing, once again putting up the professional wall built between them while at work. 

 

"You came in here for a reason, am I right?" Sebastian says. 

Joseph gives him a long, hard stare, just before letting his shoulders slump with a sigh.

 

 

"No, actually. I didn't" He says, to Sebastian's surprise. Sebastian sits up straighter in his office chair, eyebrows shooting up to show his shock. "I just... wanted to see if you were okay. You're uh, starting to worry me a bit, Seb." Joseph's voice goes quieter and quieter as he ends his sentence, shuffling his foot a little on the tile floor.

 

 

Sebastian knows that Joseph cares for him, a little too much, actually. He's probably the only one in this entire precinct that is genuinely concerned for him, and it shows in whatever sort of nagging way it comes out of Joseph's mouth. Sebastian can't find himself to argue with Joseph whenever he comes in to "bother" him during work hours. It's probably some of the only real human connection he has during the day.

  
"Thanks, Jo." Sebastian says with a forced smile. "But I'm alright. Just a little hungover is all."

 

"Are you sure?" Joseph asks. "Because I can always stay in here and help you out with paperwork and everything-"

 

"Don't trouble yourself." Sebastian isn't worth his time. "Just... go on and get back to your own work. I'm sure you have a lot on your hands too."

 

Joseph stands there in front of his desk for a moment, like he's trying to process what Sebastian is saying, and there is a slight crease to his brow as his worry becomes apparent again. Sebastian only wishes he could go one day without seeing it, because Joseph really doesn't deserve this. He shouldn't have to sit at his desk all day worrying about whether or not Sebastian is finally going to go off the rails and do something drastic. Sebastian is the only one who needs to be in control of that.

 

Finally Joseph nods, slowly, and smiles to hide the strain in his voice when he tells Sebastian goodbye. "Wait," Sebastian calls before he leaves, "can you grab us some coffee on your way out?"

 

"I'll get some coffee," Joseph tells him, "I'll get you some water. No coffee with that hangover of yours."

 

"Aw come on," Sebastian whines teasingly. Joseph quickly shakes his head, but doesn't respond.

 

The door eventually closes and Sebastian is left in the painful silence of the room, staring dead ahead. He lets go of the breath he had been holding, and he can almost feel the light leaving his eyes as his mind goes empty once again. It's better this way. It's better to be numb than... than what he had felt before. At least with emptiness he has no motivation to feel pain.

 

The door opens again with no hesitation, and Sebastian looks up at the sound of little clicks against the tile. A file is dropped on his desk before he can even look at a face, but when he does, Juli Kidman looks down at him with an long empty gaze with no expression to read from. Sebastian doesn't get a word in before she cuts him off and speaks. "You wanted a good case. We got one." She says, her words cutting like knives through the thick haze of Sebastian's mind.

 

  
She pulls out the chair in front of Sebastian's desk and waits for him to open it. The way that her eyes seems to see right through him sets Sebastian a little on edge as he leans forward for the manila folder, watching Kidman's face the entire time his hand pulls the folder open. Several pages are held inside, and almost like an audio book Kidman begins to narrate. "Four deaths in the past three weeks." She says. "They were all found on the-"

 

 

Kidman stops as the door opens behind her. Joseph comes slipping in with coffee and a cup of water, but Sebastian notices one of the two coffee cups has his name written neatly on the side. He smiles, thanking Joseph as he sets the tray on his desk and goes to sit on the sofa in the corner of the room. Turns out he's ignoring Sebastian's order and is staying in here after all, but Sebastian really doesn't mind. 

 

 

"Oh, hey Juli." Joseph says as soon as he notices her. "Sorry, I would've gotten you coffee but I didn't..."

 

 

"It's fine," Kidman says with a wave of her hand, "I don't drink coffee. I appreciate it anyway." There's always something about Kidman and her professionalism. Even outside of work she wears the same mask, or maybe it's just her. Sebastian has never been able to really see into her after all this time.

 

Kidman shifts in her seat, then leans forward and looks over the file that Sebastian hadn't yet started reading. Her finger skims over the first few lines of the first page, not really reading it as she continues her summary from before Joseph entered the room. "Four people were found dead over the course of three weeks," she repeats, giving Joseph some insight as well, "they were just found lying on the side of the streets on the edge of Union, just outside Krimson City."

  
Sebastian leans forward as well as Kidman's story grabs his attention, his excitement hidden underneath a well set gaze but absolutely burning within him. The past few months have been nothing but boring cases for him: robberies, breaking and entering, the occasional simplistic drug deal- all of which could be reviewed and closed almost as soon as they were set on his desk. To anyone else, they could be seen as something exciting, but to him, they've simply lost their flavor. Sebastian knows something like murder, especially the several in this case, shouldn't peak his interest so much, but he can't deny the fact that it does. He can't deny the feeling of thrill that runs through his veins when new evidence comes to the surface, how every step he takes makes him feel that he is one step closer to solving the case.

  
"There were four adults," Kidman continues, "A Caucasian man, a Hispanic American woman, an Asian American woman, and an African American man, all in their late twenties to early thirties, judging by the looks of them. All four of them are being run by Forensics later today to identify them." Sebastian frowns at this news. None of their descriptions have any sort of link between them, other than age. He tries to quickly run over any other sort of matching details through his head, but finds himself stumped in the end.

  
"Anything else? Anything that could link the victims together?" Sebastian asks, sipping his coffee.

  
"Well, a few." Kidman says. "They were all found around the same area, all around the same age, and..." Suddenly her sarcasm leaves her voice as she trails off, her gaze distant as she looks down at the file. "They had no blood."

  
"What?" Joseph pipes up from the back of the room.

  
"Look for yourself." Kidman tells them, nodding at the files. Sebastian gives her a questioning look, raising an eyebrow, before he turns the page to the photos of the victims in the middle of the files. "All of them, they were just... drained."

  
Sebastian can't quite understand what he is seeing. True to her word, all of the lifeless victims in the photos have gone pale, some dark pools of red lying beneath their corpses, staining the street pavement. "Did you see them in person?" Sebastian asks Kidman. She nods.

  
"They all seemed to have a sort of injection site, but none of them were in the same place. Some were in the inner arm, where most drug injection sites would be. But one was in the center of the neck, some all over the place on one of them. Right now my best guess would be some new drug outbreak that's a little too potent, but... I don't think even any of the Vice and Narcotics Squad have seen anything like this before."

 

 

Looking closer, Sebastian can see the injection sites circled in dots of black, all clustered together nearest to the holes in the skin and spreading outward from there. It has to be the strangest thing Sebastian has seen, but certainly not the first. Many cases of drug abuse and overdose have side effects of skin discoloration, but the way the toxic bruises stand out so stark against pale lifeless skin... it chills Sebastian to the bone. They almost seem to be pulsing in the veins of the corpses, Sebastian can see it now even though the photos are still and project no movement whatsoever. It's just his imagination, but still it intrigues him.

  
"I'm not sure about drug overdose." Joseph says, his voice hinted with skepticism. "I mean, it just seems a little too, you know, violent. What kind of drug could have even done this? You said these victims had no blood left in them whatsoever?"

 

  
"That's what the initial reports said." Kidman tells him.

 

  
"Maybe the drug has some effect that dried the blood in the veins? Or caused a massive clot?" Sebastian suggests, although even to him the theory seems like a stretch.

 

  
"Could be suicide." Joseph says after a moment of silence. Sebastian looks up, judging their faces and deciding how to respond.

 

  
"It's a possibility," Kidman says, "but it's doubtful. The deaths were too violent, and judging by the reports, there were signs of struggle. You know, bruises, hand marks. These people didn't want to die." Her words leave a sort of eerie atmosphere in the silence that hangs in the room afterwards. Then she continues: "There were four of them. Unless there's some sort of connection between them, and this was a group suicide pact or something of the sorts, then it's highly unlikely."

 

  
"Serial killings?" Sebastian finally asks, the thought keeping him on the edge during the entire conversations. Perhaps his slight excitement was noticeable, for both Joseph and Kidman look to him with wide eyes.

 

  
"Yes, that's what everyone in the precinct has been guessing anyway. We can't get ahead of ourselves now, though, or we'll steer this case on the clear opposite direction." Sebastian agrees with that much, but still, serial killings just seems like the most obvious answer to this case. Of course, they've guessed wrong in the past a few times, and well, all of those cases were either solved too late or just went cold. There's something about this case that is getting under Sebastian's skin, and he knows he can't let either of those things happen, not again.

 

 

  
"As I said," Kidman continues, "It's all still going through the first processes. We don't even have an identification match for the victims yet, nor have any other witnesses come through to give additional information."

 

"Other witnesses?" Sebastian says, sitting back in his chair. "Who was our first?"

 

"They asked to remain anonymous." Kidman tells him, just before her shoulders slump. "But they were just a kid, had to have been late teens."

 

"Damn," Sebastian curses. They were a kid. A fucking kid. No one should have to see something like this, something not even the majority of their precinct can explain at the moment, no less a child. Sebastian shakes his head as his hand comes to cover the lower half of his face, leaning into his palm. God damn it.

 

As the silence stretches on, Sebastian checks the photos again, sure in himself that he must have seen something wrong, because none of this seems to make sense to him. Sure enough, his eyes must not be deceiving him. The lifeless victims in the files are still there, pale as ever, stained red from their own life that must have spilled out of them. How could there be so much blood loss so quick? He can just imagine the face of the witness as they noticed the bodies... but then Sebastian doesn't want to think about that. He can't bring himself to see that child's face.

 

  
"Castellanos." A sharp voice interrupts his thoughts. Sebastian snaps his head up, his eyes meeting a cold, hard stare belonging to none other than the Chief of the precinct. Her hardening expression sets him straight, his back pressing tight against the back of his chair and keeping his eyes ahead. "My office. Now." The way her words hang heavily in the air even after she's shut his door keep any air lodged in Sebastian's throat. What did he do this time?

 

  
Joseph nods towards him when their gazes cross paths. "You should go," he says, "we can talk about the case later."

 

 

Sebastian heaves a sigh as he reluctantly stands from his desk, nodding in return with a slight expression of pain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An impatient meow calls his attention from down the hall. Stefano looks up from his work, hands drenched in reds and blacks which he wipes off on his apron before tossing it off in a dramatic sweep. The apron lands on the back of an ancient rustic chair as he turns away from his work, and he sets his brush in the teacup of paint water and leaves the room. The black cat meows again, red eyes glowing white against a black canvas of black shadows down the hallway. She blinks once, catching his attention and pulling him forwards into the kitchen.

 

 

She sits before a small corpse that she introduces with annoyance, and Stefano can't help but to sigh. It's far past the initial death, the rat decomposing in the corner with fragile bones of the rib cage exposed. The cat lets out a long, exasperated mew, and Stefano chuckles, picking the little thing up in his gloved hands. He uses his finger to push and prod it around in his hand, admiring all the intricate details the decay has left behind on its subject. 

 

 

"Such a shame," Stefano says, tapping at a fractured bone that pokes out of the torn flesh, "death has captured it before anyone could witness it." He frowns, giving it one last look over. It appears that the broken bones had been the cause of its death, meaning something else must have killed it. He smiles at the cat sitting at his feet, staring up at him with unblinking eyes. "Good girl." He says endearingly. Then he steps over to the back door with the dead mouse still in his hand, and leaves it on the ground for it to properly decompose. It is too far gone to be of any use to him anymore anyhow. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a slam of his car door, Sebastian thrusts the key into the ignition and twists it until finally the exhausted engine comes to life. He checks to make sure there isn't anyone or any cars behind him in the KCPD parking lot before he pulls out, but other than that, he is fueled on so much vexation that he practically ignores anything and everything else as he leaves the police station as fast as he possibly can. Sebastian sets the shitty truck to the road, irritated that it can't take him away from that damn place any faster.

 

  
Said in an understatement, the meeting with his boss did not go so well, as he had prematurely assumed. Even with his predictions of how the talk would turn out, he still can't help but be fuming even as he takes off down the street.

 

  
"Too incapable," he mutters under his breath, gripping the steering wheel even tighter, if possible. "fucking-" He can't even get the next words out intelligibly, and they come out through his fist to the dashboard in a sudden surge of anger.

 

 

He has a right to be angry. The chief of KCPD has absolutely no idea what he is going through right now. She can't- Sebastian takes in a deep breath, remembering himself. He knows what will come next if he gets too angry, especially while alone on the road. It won't end well. It won't-

 

 

  
"Holy shit!" Sebastian shouts, slamming down on the brakes as quickly and with as much force as he can put into it. The truck tires screech to a stop, his hand instinctively pressing down on the car horn. He looks up through the front window, but the silhouette of the child he had seen seconds before is gone. Sebastian rolls down his side window, peering out of it to check again with more clarity. The child may not be there, but there is still someone, or something, lying in front of his truck on the street, he is sure of it.

 

 

He swiftly steps out onto the road, jogging to the front of the vehicle, a sigh of relief escaping his lips as a small, curious meow escapes the other on the streets. The bright red eyes look up at him, and she is simply sitting before him as if she hadn't just nearly given Sebastian a heart attack. "You scared the shit out of me." He tells her. She merely blinks at him slowly, as if responding, then meows again. Sebastian gets down on his knees and takes her by her front legs, lifting her so she is standing on her hind legs instead and looking at him at eye level. Now that he looks at her more closely, he notices that her eyes aren't actually red, but rather a very dark, rich tone of brown, and appear red when the light hits them just so. It's an intriguing, almost hypnotizing thing, but it isn't enough to distract Sebastian from the new wave of anger that rises in his throat. He picks up the black cat fully in his arms and realizes he exactly where he needs to be, which is just around the corner from his house. Which also happens to be just in front of the driveway of his new neighbor.

 

 

Sebastian storms up the driveway, ignoring the creeping feeling he had gotten the last time he had been here and how it comes to prey on him now. With the cat still secure in his one arm, he uses the other to raise his fist and pound on the front door. The knocks echo loudly all across the porch, and he doesn't stop until the smug face of the man inside comes before him into view.

 

  
"May I help you with something?" Valentini asks, that knowing look in his eye burning Sebastian on the inside.

 

  
"Yeah, asshole." He presents the cat with outstretched arms. "Do you even care that she was wandering out on her own? That I _almost killed her?!"_ His voice rises towards the end, unable to control the boiling sensation in his veins.

 

  
What fuels that near hatred even more, is that Valentini _laughs_.

 

"Now, I'm sure she could not have been that much trouble." He says, his words ending in an infuriating chuckle.

 

 

"It's not about being any trouble," Sebastian growls, "it's about you being a shitty caretaker."

 

 

Something must have struck, because Stefano's expression goes dark. "Excuse me?" He threatens, his voice lowering as his expression goes dangerously flat. His eye flicks down, then back up again in less than a second. "Shouldn't you be at work right now?"

 

 

"That's none of your-" Wait, Sebastian doesn't come down this part of the street when he goes to work. "Do you _keep track_ of when I leave?!" His voice rises again, this time more of shock than of anger. What the hell? He knew there was something off about this guy from the start. What kind of a creep is he dealing with?

 

 

The sooner this is all over, the better. Sebastian shoves the poor cat into Valentini's arms before he is even ready and turns sharply down the porch steps without another word. It's better than dealing with this freak for another second longer than he needs to. He steps off the last stair onto the walkway and freezes. He doesn't know why, but Sebastian just can't help it. Something is crawling down his neck, down his spine, the feeling of eyes all around him, on him, with every step he takes. He turns, but Valentini is gone. He must have went back inside. The door is closed, the blinds are drawn over the window, so why does he still feeling like... he's being watched? 

 

 

Sebastian looks at the abundance of roses crawling up the house. There's something... off about them, and although Sebastian may be a detective, he still can't quite put his finger on what it is that is calling to his attention. Sebastian shrugs it off, but it ends with a shudder all throughout his body as he walks as quickly as possible to leave the strange pathway.


	3. The Raven's Witness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Did you see anything else there at the scene?"
> 
>  
> 
> "I-" The witness looks as though she has an answer formed, but stops herself as soon as she opens her mouth. "I don't know."
> 
>  
> 
> Sebastian isn't buying it. "You're hiding something."

When Sebastian opens his eyes the next morning, the first thought that comes to mind is one of confusion. The floor against his back is hard and cold, and all around him is nothing but darkness. Once the initial drowsiness is blinked away, he gazes harder above him, trying to make out something that is swinging above him. It moves slowly, and one by one, little flickering lights appear on whatever is branching off of it. A chandelier, golden firelight illuminating the silver base as it rocks back and forth, back and forth. Sebastian blinks up at it as slowly he stands, observing the room around him as best as he can in the dim lighting.

 

The first thing that comes into view is the shiny polished flooring, black and white checkered patterns like a chess board extending endlessly into the darkness before him. Above him is a large balcony on all sides of the walls, the chandeliers hovering from a ceiling which Sebastian cannot see. It seems to go on forever. To his right is a large wall covered in an intricately detailed off-white wallpaper, enormous artworks covering almost every square foot. To the left are towering windows covered in crimson red curtains, blocking any sunlight that could hope to penetrate the room. Not that any could come through- through the cracks exposed past the curtains it appears to be pitch black outside.

 

Light seems to filter through from behind him, but when he turns, there is nothing. The walls and the floor behind him lie in shadow, cracks formed on the tiles, the wallpaper shredded and falling apart, fragile and torn. It is a complete contrast to the polished, posh appearance of the room before him. Even the art on the walls become darker the more his eyes search, decrepit and twisted in subject matter, almost horrific. Sebastian finds he cannot look at them for long, and his footsteps take him further away from the crumbling architecture behind him and into the lighted area of the room. 

 

 

Even as he travels away from the eerie space behind him, the creeping feeling never leaves him. It moves with him, sliding down his spine, in his legs, underneath his very footsteps as they click off the hard tiled floor. The shadows along the walls begin to breathe, closing in on him. Sebastian doesn't stop. He can't. If he pauses even for a second the shadows will surely take him from under his feet, claw at him with their razor sharpness and drown him in their smothering breaths. He can't stop. Not even when there's nothing left to see, when the chandeliers suddenly blink out of life and the room falls dead in the pitch darkness, he cannot stop in his tracks. 

 

 

His breath catches in his lungs and he almost trips in the blackness that was once the floor. The sound of glass lightly tapping against each other in the silence seems as loud as gunshots, causing him to finally stop traveling forward, which he immediately knows is a mistake. Sebastian's wide eyes stare into the darkness, still as ever, terrified to even breathe as the sound comes closer, a ragged breath in his ear. He can't turn to look at it, we won't dare himself to. Sebastian swallows down his fear, but still it remains sharp in his throat. He closes his eyes, tighter now, and slowly he turns his body until he knows he is facing whatever it is that is stalking him in the dark. 

 

 

The face of a black faced raven greets him, perched upon a human shoulder with a great likeness to it. Sebastian can't quite process what he is seeing, the shapeless dark robe hunched over, a bird's beak stretched out before him for a face. He takes a step back, and suddenly the thick silence of the room seems so empty, ringing and screaming in his ears. His right eye begins to twitch, and Sebastian's hand moves to cover it instinctively. He doesn't know why. He doesn't understand any of this. Why this is happening, where he is- all questions running through his mind with no answer. His mouth opens to speak, but no words come out, just a hoarse breath of nothingness. His voice sounds hollow, and so does he, a shell of terror before this unexplained presence of the man standing in front of him. 

 

 

A flash of translucent glass glints off of an unknown light source, a syringe now visible in the man's frail hand. It reaches upwards, a thick green substance illuminated inside of it, and Sebastian barely has time to protect his throbbing eye before the black bird cries out a deafening scream and the syringe is plunged into his face.

 

 

  
"Damn it!" Joseph exclaims out of nowhere. Sebastian lazily glances up when Joseph's fist suddenly slams down on the desk. It is no surprise to Sebastian that he is acting out like this. Joseph can only hold himself together for so long, so every once in a while when something is really digging at him, Sebastian just lets him go loose. Joseph steps back and turns away from the files cluttering his usually clean desk, running a hand through his slicked back hair, which doesn't stay that way for long. The desk was probably the first sign; Joseph always has to keep his area and possessions neat and in order. Sebastian sighs and stands from his desk to Joseph's taking the scattered paperwork and shuffling them all together into more organized files. Joseph watches him for a second over his shoulder before going back to take over. "You don't have to do that." He says apologetically.

  
"Well, someone has to." Sebastian jokes as he finishes organizing anyway. "What's wrong?"

  
Joseph shakes his head. "It's nothing. Just this... damned case." Sebastian already knew that. This isn't the first time Joseph's acted out of frustration.

  
"Still can't find anything?"

  
"Nothing. Not. A. Thing."

  
"Damn." Sebastian says in a shitty attempt of sympathy.

  
"I know." Joseph sighs. "We have a witness coming in this afternoon, but we still need more information. I doubt they'll be able to provide us with much."

 

Sebastian sits back in his office chair and takes a quick sip from his coffee. It's still hot. Joseph's having a meltdown pretty early in the day already. "From what Kidman told us, they sounded pretty shaken up."

 

"I know." Joseph says as he presses his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "That's what I'm worried about."

 

"What do you mean? We get this all the time."

 

"But not something like this." Joseph leans forward on Sebastian's desk as he speaks, almost lowering his voice. Sebastian doesn't know why- they're alone right now. "This case is just... different, you know? We've never seen something like this before."

 

"I'm sure it'll be fine. We've had strange cases before and look how they all turned out. They were all just ordinary crimes with a little... something out of the ordinary, you know?"

 

Joseph looks right at him a little while longer. Then he releases a soft breath and stands back up straight. "You're right," he says, continuing with a low chuckle, "sorry about that. I don't know what got into me. You're right."

  
"Hey, no problem." Sebastian says. Sometimes he wonders how either of them would live without the other. One of them always has to be there to balance each other out. When Sebastian has his own meltdowns, Joseph is his definite voice of reason. He's glad he can do the same for Joseph.

 

But Joseph is also right. This case is really obscure, even to them, who believed they had seen it all already. And they have seen some pretty dark shit.

 

 

 

So when their witness does come in later that afternoon, Sebastian would be damned if he thought his nightmare from this morning would be the strangest thing that happened to him today.

 

 

She doesn't speak to them at first. Her head remains down, her face hidden behind long dark hair and eyes cast downward. She has scars on her hands that she folds together under the table on her lap. Sebastian notices them almost immediately as she worries them together, her fingers forming shapes as she holds her breath in the small interrogation room. They won't be interrogating her exactly, there's no pressure that would make her go silent, but she seems to believe so. Still, fear and nervousness seems to practically radiate off of her where she sits.

 

Kidman enters the room first, followed by Joseph while Sebastian peers through the one way glass window into the interrogation room. He leans against the wall, observing them for a moment. The witness looks up only once with wide eyes before returning her far out gaze to her lap. Kidman hangs out by the side and Joseph goes to sit down across from the witness, taking his pad and pen out of his vest pocket. He adjusts his glasses and clears his throat before beginning the interrogation. Realizing he is almost alone, aside from some other coworkers he doesn't know by first name, Sebastian slips into the interrogation room himself.

 

The witness looks up again at him, her red, wet eyes wide and fearful when she notices him. Sebastian hadn't noticed it before. He eyes her as well, crossing his arms and casually leaning against the wall as Kidman does on the other side of the room. Sebastian is usually brought in on suspects to play the sort of "bad cop" role, but he won't be needing to do any of that act today. He worries for a moment that that is the reason their witness suddenly shifts further into her seat.

 

Joseph clears his throat again, and Sebastian hadn't even noticed that he had been looking at him. _Sorry to interrupt_ , he wants to say. He doesn't. More important matters are at hand than sarcasm.

  
Joseph starts with question one, the same as any report. "Could you state your name?" The witness looks up again, straightening herself in her seat. She sniffs as her tears seem to dry up, and quietly mumbles an unintelligible name. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

  
"L-Laura. Laura Victoriano." She says clearly now. Joseph scribbles her name down onto his paper before continuing calmly.

  
"When can you say the... incident occurred?"

  
"I, um... I- I can't say for sure-"

  
"Just give us your best assumption." Kidman advises.

  
"Right, it was uh..." Laura adjusts the red scarf around her neck uneasily, "I'd say sometime around late night?"

  
"And you found the victims when, exactly?"

  
"I was-" She sniffs again, and her voice begins to shake. "It was early morning. I was looking for- my brother wandered off the night before, my little brother-"

  
"Wait," Kidman suddenly interrupts, "did anyone fill out a missing person's report?"

  
"I- no, no. He roams out all the time, almost every night."

  
"Any particular reason why?" Joseph asks, a line forming on his brow.

  
Laura laughs sadly. "He's going through a phase. He loves the woods- Ruben, by the way. His name is Ruben."

  
"So he just... walks out? Just like that?"

  
"Yes, all the time in fact. He just wanted to go on a walk and- well, he never came home that night, so I took off to go search for him and-" Laura's voice cracks again, and Sebastian is afraid she'll start crying again. "That's when I found them, just off the side of the road in the country. I- I had been out all night, I was exhausted, and I was so sure I had just hallucinated everything at first, but I-" She stops rambling and gasps as her eyes begin to shine, "oh god..."

  
"It's okay, Laura," Joseph tells her soothingly, pulling out a handkerchief out of his pocket. Only Joseph would still use those things in this day and age. "Here. Give yourself a moment."

  
Laura takes the little cloth and wipes away her tears with it, taking in a deep breath. The poor girl is an absolute wreck. "I'm sorry, I'm just-" Sebastian's heart sinks a little in his chest. He isn't sure why.

 

"How old is your brother?" He suddenly asks, unable to stop himself.

 

"Detective, I don't think that is relative to the case." Kidman objects.

  
"No, no, it's okay." Laura says. She looks at Sebastian. "He's ten."

  
That's what really drives it in. He's ten. God damn it, now they've got a missing person's case. A child. He was fucking ten.

 

"Okay," Joseph starts up again, "can you tell me exactly what you had seen that morning?"

  
"Well, I... I was looking for my brother. It was further out into the countryside, you know, where the creek is?" Joseph nods in confirmation. "I was hoping to find Ruben there, but all I found were these... pale, dead bodies, just lying in the ditches in the grass."

 

"Where exactly in the countryside? Can you give us an exact location? A street name? Familiar landmarks?"

 

"Yes, it was just outside of Union, down Marrow Road." Marrow Road? Damn, Sebastian lives not too far from there. That's the road just around the block from his own. How hadn't he known that? Maybe he needs to pay more attention to the reports.

 

Joseph continues scrawling down notes even as he asks her for more information. "Are there any more details about the victims you can give us?"

 

"There were four. I think... there was a black man, a Hispanic woman- I couldn't tell you from where, exactly- and um... an Asian woman and a white man. They were all this... ashy grey color, like- like-"

 

 

"Like the blood had been drained out of them?" Sebastian fills in.

 

 

Laura's eyes begin to water once again. "Exactly like that." She says quietly.

 

  
"Did you see anything else there at the scene?"

 

"I-" Laura looks as though she has an answer formed, but stops herself as soon as she opens her mouth. "I don't know."

 

Sebastian isn't buying it. "You're hiding something." He says, taking a step forward. Laura noticeably freezes in her seat, staring up at him.

 

"No, I'm not- I'm just not sure-"

 

"Tell me what you saw." Sebastian demands. Laura's eyes dart all around the room at Kidman and Joseph, who nods to egg her on.

 

"There- there were these... needles. They looked like drugs." Her voice tapers off towards the end, becoming more silent as she continues on. They are as clear as ever to Sebastian despite it.

 

"What?"

 

"I- I don't know what they were, why they were there, what they were for-"

 

"Thank you." Sebastian interrupts. Joseph and Kidman glance over to his direction.

 

"Detective, I'm afraid we weren't fin-"

 

"We've heard enough. Haven't we?" Joseph gives him a puzzled expression, but giving his notes a quick once over he stands, shifting the chair backwards from underneath him.

 

"Yes, thank you, miss Victoriano." Joseph shakes her hand as he speaks. "Would you be willing to answer any more questions, given we need more information?"

  
"Of course." Laura's eyes look anywhere but at Joseph's, and her scarred hand moves quickly to finish the handshake and go back to her cardigan pocket.

 

 

Sebastian leaves the interrogation room, Joseph following behind as Kidman leads Laura out of the precinct. There's a hand on his shoulder and suddenly Sebastian is being thrown back around, facing Joseph, who's gaze is burning behind his glasses. "What the hell, Sebastian? We weren't done in there!"

 

"We have all the information we need."

 

"No! No, Sebastian, we don't!" Joseph damn near shouts.

 

"Oda, look. Not only do we have what is most likely a murder case, but now we have a missing person's case on our hands."

 

"Oda? Really? Is that what this is now?" The way Joseph says it, with what could be betrayal behind his voice, is almost too much for Sebastian to handle. Anger? Disappointment? Those are things that Sebastian can deal with. But betrayal? Sebastian actually takes a step back, his eyes averted to the floor.

 

"No. No, it's not."

 

"Then tell me what it is." Joseph stares at him intently, waiting for an answer. An answer that won't come. One that Sebastian doesn't have.

 

"It's complicated." Is all he says before changing the subject. "Look, we have two cases in one now. All I'm saying is that we should take what information we have and use it while things start to calm down. Whatever is going on, no more bodies have shown up on the streets, so we have time now to work with what we're given."

 

 

  
Joseph doesn't answer right then. But when Sebastian heads home for the night, just before falling asleep, he gets a text from him. Sebastian can do nothing but stare at the screen of his phone, absolute disbelief leaving him numb from reading the message over and over again.

 

 

Three more have been found dead in the past hour.

 

 

 

 

 

The door shuts with a click at Kidman's usual unexpected entrance. There's never an announcement, never a "hello, Sebastian," nothing. Ever. By now, Sebastian is used to it, so when Kidman steps across the room to his desk and lies the newest evidence report down on his desk, he doesn't comment on it. Kidman takes to the plush chair in front of his desk, leaning back and throwing a leg over the arm. Unprofessional as hell sometimes. It's like she can't make up her mind. Sebastian almost can't believe it sometimes. Kidman may be young, especially in this field of profession, but sometimes Sebastian is suspicious that she may just be a teenager trying to play a prank on them. You know, see how long she can go in the precinct before getting caught, that sort of thing.

 

"Any particular reason you're here?" Joseph pipes up across the room. It makes Sebastian jump for a second; he had completely forgotten he was here. Apparently they had forgotten about their argument as well. Joseph crawls upward from underneath a blanket that's about the same shade of green as the sofa in the corner of the room, blinking sleep out of his eyes as he sits upright. God, what is this place, a daycare? Sebastian better be getting paid for this.

 

"Heroine." Is all Kidman has to say in response, also sitting up straight in her seat, crossing one leg over the other.

 

"Excuse me?" Joseph asks.

 

"We investigated the scene in its entirety today." She says, "Ran the needles that were found through Drugs and Narcotics. The tests came back positive for heroine."

 

"Seriously?" Sebastian says. He isn't sure why, but he had been expecting something else. Maybe blood samples, something, anything. Just... not exactly heroine.

 

"Is something wrong, Sebastian?" Kidman asks. Sebastian looks up from his desk, noticing that all eyes are currently on him.

 

"Nothing, it's just that it's..."

 

"Strange to find something like heroine on this kind of case?" Joseph fills in for him. Sebastian nods. "I was thinking the same thing."

 

"How so?" Kidman says, seeming genuinely lost. Typical rookie question. Kidman hasn't been on the force for long, having just started a few months. She still hasn't quite caught up with the rest of them, hence why she had been tagging along with Sebastian and Joseph. They're in charge of showing her the ropes around at the precinct and on the field, but for the most part she's quite an exceptional detective. It's just the little things she happens to slip up on, such as now.

 

"Think about it," Joseph says, "considering this is now listed as a murder case, what does heroine have to do with the scene?"

 

 

"What he's saying is that this hasn't been written as a drug overdose." Sebastian fills in. "Maybe the drugs were planted there."

 

 

"So we need to figure out who put them there?" Kidman asks. Sebastian nods.

 

 

"And when."

 

 

Joseph stands from his seat, nodding towards the door. "I'll ask them to run it through again, try to find finger prints, DNA samples, anything."

 

 

"Good thinking." Sebastian tells him.

 

 

Before he closes the door behind him, Joseph takes a step back, his eyes falling on Sebastian one last time. "And Seb?"

 

 

Sebastian looks up from where his attention had gone to the files, returning Joseph's gaze. 

 

 

"Take care of yourself, alright?" Joseph says. Even Kidman gives him a cautious glance, checking between both Sebastian and Joseph curiously as Sebastian nods. Joseph finally closes the door to Sebastian's office, and Kidman doesn't say a word about it. 

 

 

 

“Hey!” Sebastian shouts, “What the fuck?!”

  
He puts his head back inside his car as he’s pulling the truck into his driveway, slamming his palm on the car horn as he arrives near the front porch. What could be hundreds of black feathers scatter all over the wooden landing and on his front lawn as the black crows take off, fluttering wings taking to the skies above his roof. Sebastian sounds the horn once more for good measure, the birds all screeching as they escape. Turning off the engine, Sebastian hops out of the truck, staring up at them as they fill the dying sky. He sweeps the hair from his face, not quite processing what he is seeing.

  
The crows circle around above him in a grand motion, almost synchronized in this massive vortex they are creating above his head. Sebastian shakes his head and dashes up the porch steps, his eyes still pointed up at the sky until he closes the front door behind him.

  
Locking the door, Sebastian leans back against the wooden frame, still hearing the faint calls of the birds overhead as he finally hears them begin to disperse. Soon the only sound left in the empty house is his heavy breaths in the dark. Apparently running up the stairs is enough to exhaust him nowadays. He shakes his head and pushes his hair back again away from his face, now finally walking away from the door.

 

As usual at this time of night, his feet take him to the kitchen, and his hand reaches for the bottle of whiskey in the fridge. He doesn’t even bother going back to turn on the lights at this point. If he turns on the lights, then he can see how empty this house truly is. Instead he takes himself to the couch, takes a long drink from his bottle, and tips his head on the back of the sofa. The television flashes lights against his face in the darkness, and he closes his eyes to try to block them out. Just that alone is enough to give Sebastian a headache.

 

That, and small scratching noise echoing against the walls in the dark.

  
Sebastian opens his eyes the instant he hears it, the sound bringing him to mute the television, freezing where he sits. It is silent all for a moment, then there it is again- a scrape against the wood, followed by a rapid rush of air. It’s small, but enough for Sebastian to rise to his feet, slowly following the sound. It’s coming from behind the sofa, he knows that much. His alcohol remains in his hand, now a weapon against whatever lies in the shadows. As Sebastian is creeping along the arm of the couch, one hand goes to switch the lamp on, filling the room with weak yellow light. The whisky glows gold in the bottle as he raises it next to his head, the scratching coming again from the corner of the room. It is coming from the ceiling now, he’s sure of it. The closer he comes, the more apparent the flapping of wings becomes, frantic and almost frail just from the sound alone. Sebastian’s eyes dart all along the walls, the ceiling, peering behind the dusty bookshelf and finding nothing but dirty, ancient cobwebs hanging there. Then he looks up at the corner, and he barely has time to duck out of the way before he is suddenly being attacked from above.

  
Sebastian shouts, his knees falling for the floor, as a tiny animal suddenly flies around in a circle around the room before swooping down into the empty bookshelf he had just investigated seconds before. Sebastian shoves himself backwards towards the back of the sofa, staring wide eyed and angry at the thing seeking refuge within the dusty books.

  
Without a second thought, Sebastian pulls out his phone from his pocket, turning the flashlight on and beaming it towards the creature. It gives the tiniest shriek of surprise, wriggling around upside down in the book case. Sebastian frowns, muttering his confusion aloud as he shuffles forward, the light still beaming on the little animal. “What the hell?”

 

The little brown bat shuffles behind its wings, blocking out the light in its eyes. Well, eye, actually. Sebastian notices it once the bat’s head peeps out from a wing, staring back at him. It’s shaking where it hangs on the shelf, yet paralyzed in fear. “Oh, shit.” Sebastian whispers, remembering the flashlight is still on. He switches it off, then waits for his eyes to adjust on the bat once more in the shadows. “How the hell did you…” It still appears to be terrified, so Sebastian takes a small step back, eyes still locked on the trembling bat.

 

Suddenly it tries to spread its fragile wings, smacking it against a book and falling instantly on the floor of the shelf. It frantically continues to flap its wings, trying to almost crawl out of its hiding spot. Then it stills, slowly looking up at Sebastian with its single eye. Sebastian watches back, and the little bat crawls forward again towards him. Almost immediately, Sebastian’s hand is outstretched for it to climb onto, one little clawed hand after the other pulling its body onto his palm. It tickles a bit as the little hands grab onto him, then it curls into a little ball in his own hand.

 

Sebastian doesn’t know what to think of it. The fact that a tiny bat is currently sleeping on him like a cat would to their owner, curled up against his body, is leaving any other thought at a pause. Sebastian continues to stare down at it, his finger folding inwards to pet the fuzzy back of the bat as it falls asleep. He also doesn’t know what to do with it now. Obviously it trusts him enough to crawl into what is his enormous hand through the bat’s eye.

 

  
He slowly begins to stand, getting back on his feet and heading back towards the couch. The creature in his hand seems settled enough as he puts it on one of the throw pillows, nestling up against the fabric as it had done to his palm.

 

 

Sebastian watches as the bat begins to blink its one eye awake, staring up at him. The thought of it staring directly at him with what he feels is a knowing gaze, it's unsettling to him to say the least. While one dark living eye is locked on him, something quickly glints from the other, too fast to observe but just enough to notice. Sebastian blinks, slowly crouching down to look the bat face to face. As soon as it realizes what he is trying to do, it covers its face with its wings and quickly falls back asleep.

 

  
"What are you?" He mumbles to himself. Of course, the bat has no response, and only another mystery is added to the crowded table.

 

 

Sebastian shakes his head, lulling the thought over even later on in the night as he too is slipping into unconsciousness. The never ending questions upon questions reside even in his sleeping hours, plaguing his dreams of dark, decrepit rooms and mysterious needles, that he realizes are soon to never cease his mind. The raven cries out, and the next morning that Sebastian awakes to only add more unanswered problems to his life. The bat from the night before is now missing from its place on the sofa, and in return lies a note. Drawn in perfect intricate script, not a drip of ink out of place, is a message lied out for him.

 

 

**_Check for fingerprints._ **

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
